24th May 2011
Interested in the relationship between humans and mould, designer Ninela Ivanova plays with mould and fungai as a design tool. Using mould as a material for colour, pattern and form as well as exploring the science behind mould and its relationship to our constantly changing environment.
Questioning whether in the future we can use mould as a way of transforming our clothing resulting in the potential for season-less dressing Nelly's project has echoes of (In)visible Membrane by Sonja Bäumel, but takes a more fashion approach using colour and form to inform her designs.
The latest development for her project is her cultured shoulder pad where she has cultured and grown mould in a closed environment resulting in a thoroughly modern and unique aesthetic.
Part researcher, part fashion provocation her blog is worth a visit and she is certainly one to watch. Graduating from Kingston Fashion Futures Ma this September, Nelly is another designer to bridge the gap between science, design and materiality.
Daniel Azoulay
Infested Glass
Stained by Expectation, Swedish School of textiles
Mildew, Swedish School of textiles
Mildew, Swedish School of textiles
29th April 2011
A recurring theme throughout Milan Design week, designers are pushing the boundaries of what we perceive as beautiful.
Daniel Azoulay's Beautiful ugliness questions aesthetic values by integrating dirty materials into decorative objects. Working with tar, glass and hair it evokes an interesting reaction.
Looking at the beauty to be found in mildew and mould, students from The Swedish School of textiles play with colour, texture and form. Also under the umbrella of (un Beautiful), the 'Stained by expectation' project contextualises stains in the hopes of making them beautiful.
Showing at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Infested glass explores decay and beauty at the same time offering a balance of attraction and repulsion.
8th December 2010
Bacteria is being used in another novel way by researchers at TU University Delft, Belguim.
Researching how the self healing ability of concrete can be improved by using calcite-precipitating bacteria they are opening up the possibilities of self healing concrete.
looking to which conditions the bacteria thrive under they are developing concrete mixtures that would essentially expand the lifetime of concrete structures.
See You Soon
Augmented Digestive system
Tree Processor/Digestor
Grass Processor
Teleporting - St Etienne Design Biennale
23rd November 2010
The little known St Etienne Design Biennale is currently taking place. Not on the immediate radar of design festivals like the better-known Dutch and Milan Design weeks, this 10-year-old biennale is making waves.
Different from other tradeshows it is built on exhibitions that show a diverse and intriguing take on design. Pushing boundaries of thinking the exhibitions and the objects/images and projects shown are there to pose questions or to show unexpected visions of the future.
For this year Dunne and Raby have been invited to curate a show under the biennale's theme of Teleportation.
Their exhibition titled ‘Between Reality and the Impossible’ questions the notion of what happens when designers use the language of design to pose questions to transport our imaginations to another place, a parallel universe?
Speculating and imagining a future world where technology plays a different role is typical of the work of Dunne and Raby where they reflect on the trouble that technological innovation brings rather than the shiny satisfied world that the industry portrays.
Looking to such issues as food shortages and evolutionary technologies such as molecular technology, they suggest a future where consumers need to take charge to solve problems.
Using a combination of synthetic biology and new digestive devices they suggest that we may modify ourselves to become Foragers.
Based on the principle of existing splinter groups such as garage biologists and guerilla gardeners the project takes on a future casting DIY thinking to design ‘Microbal stomach Bacteria’ alongside electronic and mechanical devices to forage. These people or hybrids become the new urban foragers.
12th July 2010
More about the rise of bacteria/algae comes from recent graduate James Shaw who showed his DIY algae garden at New Designers last week.
Titled 'The WaldenHome project' Shaw suggests a radical reassessment of what is considered food in a world with food shortages. Looking to ideas of home farming and allotments his concept offers a solution for people to be able to produce a significant percentage of their nutritional requirements inside a small urban environment.
The results is a 'algae photobioreactor'. A concept designed to cultivate up to twenty five percent of a food required for a person using the potentially nutritious algae. Cultivated at home the results are a nutritious edible algae that would go some way to addressing food shortage issues.